Here’s the whole newspaper page for context, but the item that would have been for Richard is in the middle. The output of the Linotype composing machine that the Windsor Star would have used in 1900 is garbled; in order, the affected lines in the second paragraph should read, “His worship read the information, which charged John Bertrand and Charles Deneau with stealing the iron from an old vessel at Sandwich, and Bernstein with receiving the same. The last-named prisoner then broke forth into a torrent of pigeon English and it was only after some very strong hints from the court that Sam cooled down.”

Windsor, Ontario, Canada, is directly across the Detroit River from Detroit, Michigan, USA, which of course wasn’t known in 1900 English as Motown. The term would have been an anachronism. In the USA, the 1900 English of the Windsor Star may also have been read as anachronistic for a brief interval late in the twentieth century. You may remember the interval yourself. But it appears to be over now. Now, indications seem to confirm Ezra Pound’s dictum about language: “Literature is news that STAYS news.”

Yes, you do understand the Star’s language again. Nineteen hundred is back. Richard z”l, there will always be work for you to do for us. Click to enlarge.